Queen Beatrix Celebrates Her 70th Birthday with Low-Key Party
Photo of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands courtesy of Google Images
PR-INSIDE.COM: THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Dutch Queen Beatrix celebrated her 70th birthday Thursday with a low-key gathering of close friends at her palace nestled in woods on the edge of The Hague, while her subjects hung the national flag and orange streamers from their homes and public buildings.
Despite the public shows of affection, her birthday comes at a time when a recent speech has sparked criticism for interfering in politics.

In her 2007 Christmas speech, Beatrix said: «Rudeness in word and deed tests the limits of tolerance. Discussions end up in rigid stances _ in that kind of atmosphere people are quickly grouped together and prejudices are accepted as truth. That erodes the community spirit.

Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Freedom Party who has warned the Netherlands is in danger of being swamped by «a tsunami of Islamization» and is busy making a film in which he says he will portray the Quran as a «fascist book,» interpreted the comments as an attack on his party, which holds nine of Parliament's 150 seats.

Calling the comments, «multi-culti nonsense,» Wilders said the queen's duties should be limited to «cutting ribbons.»

Under the Dutch constitution, the prime minister is responsible for the queen's speech, and she cannot speak on her own behalf.

The monarchy also came under fire last year when the queen's daughter-in-law Princess Maxima, the Argentine-born wife of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, said in a speech that there was no such thing as a single Dutch identity. Dutch Queen Beatrix celebrates 70th birthday with low-key party >>> ©AP

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Dutch MPs Push for Anti-Muslim Legislation
Photo of Geert Wilders courtesy of Google Images
CORD WEEKLY: The Dutch parliament is considering a ban on the traditional Islamic garment worn by some women that covers the entire body

As per a Reuters report, of the approximately one million Muslims living in the Netherlands, 50 to 100 women currently wear the burqa. These women will soon be considered to be criminals if a proposed ban on this garment is cleared by the Dutch government.

The burqa is a robe-like outer garment worn by some women of the Islamic faith, which covers them from head to toe and only allows for a small opening for the eyes. It is worn by women outdoors and is only be taken off inside the household.

The Dutch parliament has voted in support of this proposal, and some of the government has shown approval for banning the burqa. Muslims are growing restless in response to this proposal, as the debate between social law and religious freedom intensifies with each passing day.

Some politicians in the Netherlands are linking the burqa to terrorism, saying that the Muslim population is sympathising with radical Islamists. The burqa covers the face from view, which is a concern for some members of parliament who want people to be identifiable in public.

A ban on this garment will certainly result in public unrest, especially since it brings up the issue of violating freedom of religion. In the city of Maaseik in Belgium, a burqa ban is already in place. Police in Maaseik have said that the ban is giving people reasons to resent society and making relations with the Moroccan community difficult.

BBC News interviewed MP Geert Wilders, the first Dutch MP to propose this ban. “It’s a medieval symbol, a symbol against women,” he said. Wilders is a prominent figure in this controversial issue, especially since he produced a film that has been labelled anti-Islam. Although the contents of this ten-minute film are not clear, Wilders tells BBC News that his film will show how the Koran is an inspiration for “intolerance, murder and terror.”

Wilders is the head of the Freedom Party, and ever since Dutch film director Theo Van Gogh was killed by a radical Islamist, Wilders has been under police protection. Van Gogh was killed in 2004 for his film, entitled Submission, which featured a naked woman with scripts from the Koran “tattooed” on her body.

A list pinned on Van Gogh’s corpse named Wilders as an infidel that deserved to be slaughtered. Wilders, however, is determined to release his film, despite warnings of retaliation from the Islamic community, even saying that he will release it on the Internet if no Dutch broadcaster will. Dutch MPs Pushing for Anti-Muslim Legislation >>> By Shagun Randhawa

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Iran Invites Islamic Ambassadors to Wilders Meeting
NIS NEWS BULLETIN: THE HAGUE, 01/02/08 - Iranian Ambassador Ziaran intends to invite all Islamic ambassadors in the Netherlands for a meeting on Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders' film on the Koran.

Ziaran met this week with the LBM, a new umbrella of Moroccan organisations in the Netherlands. On NOS Journaal, the daily TV news of public broadcaster NOS, he said he would organise a meeting with the ambassadors of Islamic countries shortly on the already-controversial film that Wilders has said he plans to air in March.

LBM, chaired by former leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) MP Mohammed Rabbae called on Ziaran to issue a message to the Iranian people not to react violently to the film, in which Wilders wants to portray the Koran as a fascist book. Ziaran could not guarantee that the streets of Tehran would remain calm.

According to De Volkskrant, Ziaran warned the Netherlands that the lives of its troops in Afghanistan may be endangered by Wilders. The newspaper yesterday quoted him as saying that the Afghans would "regard the Dutch troops as representatives of people who besmirch the Koran". [Source: Iran Invites Islamic Ambassadors to Wilders Meeting]

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Afghan Sentenced to Death for Reading about Women’s Rights
Photo of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh courtesy of The Independent
THE INDEPENDENT: A young man, a student of journalism, is sentenced to death by an Islamic court for downloading a report from the internet. The sentence is then upheld by the country's rulers. This is Afghanistan – not in Taliban times but six years after "liberation" and under the democratic rule of the West's ally Hamid Karzai.

The fate of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh has led to domestic and international protests, and deepening concern about erosion of civil liberties in Afghanistan. He was accused of blasphemy after he downloaded a report from a Farsi website which stated that Muslim fundamentalists who claimed the Koran justified the oppression of women had misrepresented the views of the prophet Mohamed.

Mr Kambaksh, 23, distributed the tract to fellow students and teachers at Balkh University with the aim, he said, of provoking a debate on the matter. But a complaint was made against him and he was arrested, tried by religious judges without – say his friends and family – being allowed legal representation and sentenced to death. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights >>> By Kim Sengupta

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Wouldn’t You Know? More Sensitivity Must Be Shown Towards Islamic Education!
Photo of young Muslimatoon courtesy of The Telegraph
How much more of this damn nonsense are the long-suffering British people going to tolerate before they make a stand against this pandering by our weak and ineffectual government to the Muslim electorate? Have the British lost all their spunk, have they lost their courage, have they lost their nerve? Do the British now just tolerate every bit of nonsense thrown at them by this dhimmitudinous, appeasing excuse for a government we have in the United Kingdom today?

I tell you here and now: Time is tight if we are to be able to reverse the trend of Islamization in our nation. Before you know it, Muslims will be ruling the roost. And to think that the UK was once such a proud and strong nation!

Giving the go-ahead to Islamic schools to police themselves is as absurd as it is dangerous. We really must put a stop to this dhimmitude. We are giving our country away. The Jihad is victorious without even having to put up a fight for its victory.

Little wonder Gordon Brown wanted to get rid of Britannia on the back of the 50p piece the other day. This must all be a part of his Marxist plan to destroy the realm! It is high time that dear Gord returned to north of the border, where he belongs. Perhaps his fellow Scotsmen will be able to tame him; the English have so obviously failed to do so. - ©Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: Private Muslim schools have been given the power to police themselves, despite widespread fears over religious segregation, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

In a controversial move, they have won the right to appoint their own Ofsted-style inspectors. A new independent watchdog has been set up to be more "sensitive'' toward Islamic education.

The decision comes despite concerns some private Muslim schools are already failing to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain. 



Barry Sheerman, the chairman of the Commons schools select committee, told MPs last month local councils were finding it "difficult to know what is going on in some faith schools - particularly Muslim schools". 



But religious leaders defended the move, saying the curriculum and religious traditions in faith schools demand specialist knowledge. 



Under present legislation, most state and private schools are inspected by Ofsted, the Government's standards watchdog. The Association of Muslim Schools and the Christian Schools' Trust applied to the Government to set up a separate inspectorate for a small number of private faith schools. Muslim schools to conduct own inspections >>> By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

MELANIE PHILLIPS:
Slouching towards dhimmocracy

” Many people still think that the idea that Britain could ever be ‘Islamised’ is just too preposterous and silly to be taken seriously. It is not. It is well advanced. What it relies upon is three things: the refusal of the British public to take it seriously; the Islamists' ability to manipulate moral and intellectual liberal confusion and the resulting paralysis over ‘Islamophobia’, ‘discrimination’ and ‘minority rights’; and the craven desire by the British government to buy off the implicit and explicit threats of Muslim social unrest and yet more terrorist attacks by giving in to the Islamists’ demands. Truly moderate British Muslims who want to live under the umbrella of British laws and institutions are thus grievously undermined, and the entire country is put at ever greater peril from the pincer movement of cultural and terrorist attack.

Members of Parliament with an elementary sense of national self-preservation simply must not let this pass.” – Melanie Phillips

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

I Shouldn't Be Here: Ledger's Drugs Dismay
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Speculation about the death of the Australian actor Heath Ledger has resurfaced after video footage emerged of him talking about drug use at a Hollywood party.

Channel Nine last night broadcast excerpts of the video, which was allegedly made two years ago at the Chateau Marmont hotel on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard - the same hotel where the actor John Belushi died.

It was reported that the footage was taken while Ledger's girlfriend, Michelle Williams, and their daughter, Matilda Rose, were upstairs.

Ledger was not shown taking drugs, although others can be seen in grainy footage apparently snorting a substance off a table.

"I'm going to get serious shit from my girlfriend," Ledger says in the video.

Asked by someone why, he replies: "We had a baby three months ago."

He goes on to tell the person his daughter's name and then says: "I shouldn't be here at all." I shouldn't be here: Ledger's drugs dismay >>> By Jonathan Dart

WATCH VIDEO:
US television program will not show footage of Heath Ledger openly discussing his drug use

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Lionheart: Homeless, and to Be Arrested for Blogging?
Hat tip to Always On Watch for alerting me to this short article:

SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS: Paul Ray is homeless. (No, not that Paul Rea.)

He’s got a home country, Britian [sic], but if he goes back there he’s facing arrest on suspicion of an offense dubbed “Stir up Racial Hatred by displaying written material” on his blog lionheartuk.blogspot.com. He could get seven years in prison just for stating his views.

They’ve got no First Amendment in Britian [sic]. So the 31-year-old is in the United States contemplating a bid for asylum after being run out of his home of Luton. He was here when he first found out about the charge.

For more than a year he’s been documenting what he alleges is drug dealing by Muslim immigrants in Luton. He’s dropped dimes on these dealers and they’ve in turn threatened his life.

I met him at last week’s blogging unconference. To me he straddles that line dividing legitimate criticism of a minority group and unreasonable vilification. He’s in that gray area where we find many in the United States who decry illegal immigrants.

At one point he said there is good and bad in everything. But later he says about the Koran: “It’s a hate book against non-believers.” He said the Muslims in Luton sell heroin as part of a jihad. Arresting a blogger (with audio) >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Heath Ledger ‘Refused Help for Heroin Abuse’
Photo of Heath Ledger courtesy of Google Images
THE TELEGRAPH: Heath Ledger's former girlfriend drove him to a drug rehabilitation centre last year to get treatment for abuse of heroin, cocaine and "a variety of pills" but he refused to go in and promised to clean up on his own, it has been claimed.

According to US Weekly magazine, Michelle Williams was so upset by the Australian actor's drug problems during their three-year relationship that she took him to the Promises Treatment Centre in Malibu, California, in March last year.

He refused to get out of the car but subsequently broke his promise to sort himself out, said the magazine, citing "multiple sources" for its claims. Heath Ledger 'refused help for heroin abuse' >>> By Tom Leonard in New York

YouTube:
Excerpt from ‘Brokeback Mountain’: Trailer

The Guardian:
Obituary

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

L'interdiction du foulard
 à l'université bientôt levee
LE FIGARO: Le dépôt au Parlement d'un projet de loi, qui a toutes les chances d'être voté, relance les craintes d'une islamisation rampante de la société.

Istanbul

La querelle autour du foulard en Turquie rebondit une nouvelle fois. Hier, un projet de loi prévoyant la levée de l'interdiction du voile dans les universités a été déposé au Parlement par le Parti de la justice et du développement (AKP) au pouvoir et le Parti d'action nationaliste (MHP), dans l'opposition. L'adoption de ce texte, qui pourrait être voté dès la semaine prochaine, ne fait guère de doute car l'alliance des députés islamo-conservateurs et ultranationalistes permet de dépasser les deux tiers des voix requis pour modifier la Constitution. La réforme concerne deux articles de la Constitution et le texte régissant le YÖK, le Conseil de l'enseignement supérieur, qui décrira la tenue vestimentaire auto­risée : une étudiante devra avoir «le visage découvert de façon à ce qu'elle soit reconnaissable et son foulard doit être noué sous le menton», selon l'agence officielle Anatolie. Le türban, entourant strictement le visage et dissimulant le cou, perçu par ses détracteurs comme un symbole de l'islam politique, resterait interdit. Tout comme le çarsaf, ce long voile noir qui couvre le corps de la tête au pied.

Dans un souci de dissiper la controverse sur une islamisation rampante de la société, l'AKP et le MHP ont cherché à désamorcer les polémiques naissantes. «Notre unique but est de mettre fin aux traitements injustes rencontrés par les filles aux portes des universités, rien d'autre», a assuré le premier ministre, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Pourtant, Ergut Ezbudun, un constitutionnaliste de renom à qui l'AKP a confié la rédaction d'un projet de Constitution civile s'est vivement opposé à la réforme : «Demain, cette liberté sera étendue à l'enseignement primaire et secondaire, et ensuite aux fonctionnaires, et pour finir, la Turquie aura un mode de vie islamique.» «Pragmatisme» et «idéologie» >>> De Laure Marchand

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

L'érosion de la popularité
 de Sarkozy se poursuit
Photo de Nicolas Sarkozy grâce au Figaro
LE FIGARO: Selon un sondage TNS-Sofres pour Le Figaro Magazine, la cote de confiance du chef de l'Etat chute de huit points à 41%, contre 43% pour François Fillon.

Ce n'est pas encore l'alerte rouge, mais la tendance se confirme. Au sommet de sa popularité au cœur de l'été dernier, Nicolas Sarkozy voit sa cote dans les sondages s'effriter constamment. Pour le mois de février, la chute se révèle même brutale : moins 8 points. 41% des Français font confiance au chef de l'Etat contre 55%, selon le baromètre TNS-Sofres pour Le Figaro Magazine (*).

Le président décroche dans toutes les classes d'âge, surtout chez les jeunes (31% de confiance, - 13 points en un mois) et les plus de 65 ans (50%, - 8). Même constat selon les catégories socio-professionnelles, que ce soit chez les ouvriers (34%, - 11) ou les professions intermédiaires (32%, - 14). Sur un plan politique, seuls 35% des électeurs centristes lui font confiance (- 13 points), un chiffre qui tombe à 16% à gauche (- 10). A l'UMP, il conserve toutefois un socle solide avec 89% de satisfaits. L'érosion de la popularité
de Sarkozy se poursuit >>> De Samuel Potier

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Der 30. Januar 1933: Hitlers Machtergreifung

DIE PRESSE: Foto Gallerie - Adolf Hitler: 75 Jahre Machtergreifung in Deutschland

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Deutschlands Schritt in den Abgrund
NZZ Online: Am 30. Januar wurde Adolf Hitler vom greisen Staatspräsident Hindenburg zum Reichskanzler bestimmt. In Hitlers Kabinett sassen mit Göring und Frick lediglich zwei weitere Nationalsozialisten. Hoffnungen, dass sich Hitler politisch einbinden lasse, entpuppten sich bald als Illusion.

uhg. Am 30. Januar 1933, einem trüben nasskalten Tag, stand der ehemalige Arbeitslose, Frontsoldat und Festungshäftling Adolf Hitler zusammen mit dem greisen Reichspräsidenten Hindenburg in der Reichskanzlei am Fenster. Durch das Brandenburger Tor wälzte sich ein unübersehbarer Zug von Fackelträgern, Fahnen mit dem Hakenkreuz wurden geschwenkt. Der Rundfunk berichtete direkt aus der Reichskanzlei.

Der frisch vereidigte Reichskanzler und selbsternannte «Führer» konnte sich um so mehr seines Triumphes erfreuen, als er auf ein gar nicht erfolgreiches Jahr 1932 zurückblicken musste. Im Herbst hatten sich die Wahlergebnisse verschlechtert, die NSDAP war beinahe pleite, und Hitlers Anspruch auf das Amt des Reichspräsidenten scheiterte an der Popularität des ehemaligen Feldmarschalls und Amtsinhabers Hindenburg. Deutschlands Schritt in den Abgrund: Zeitgenössische Stimmen zu Hitlers Machtergreifung >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

The Führer Myth: How Hitler Won Over the German People
Photo of Adolf Hitler courtesy of Google Images
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: There were still many Germans who were skeptical of Hitler when he became chancellor in 1933. But Führer propaganda and military success soon turned him into an idol. The adulation helped make the Third Reich catastrophe possible.

"Today Hitler Is All of Germany." The newspaper headline on Aug. 4, 1934 reflected the vital shift in power that had just taken place. Two days earlier, on the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler had lost no time in abolishing the Reich Presidency and having the army swear a personal oath of unconditional obedience to him as "the Führer of the German Reich and People." He was now head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces, as well as head of government and of the monopoly party, the NSDAP. Hitler had total power in Germany, unrestricted by any constitutional constraints. The headline implied even more, however, than the major change in the constellation of power. It suggested an identity of Hitler and the country he ruled, signifying a complete bond between the German people and Hitler.

The referendum that followed on 19 August 1934, to legitimize the power-political change that had occurred, aimed at demonstrating this identity. "Hitler for Germany -- all of Germany of Hitler" ran the slogan. As the result showed, however, reality lagged behind propaganda. According to the official figures, over a sixth of voters defied the intense pressure to conform and did not vote "yes." In some big working-class areas of Germany, up to a third had not given Hitler their vote. Even so, there were one or two tantalizing hints that Hitler's personal appeal outstripped that of the Nazi regime itself, and even more so of the Party. "For Adolf Hitler yes, but a thousand times no to the brown big-wigs" was scribbled on one ballot-paper in Potsdam. The same sentiment could be heard elsewhere.

Beneath the veneer of Führer adulation constantly trumpeted by the uniform propaganda of the mass media, there are numerous indicators that Hitler's appeal remained far less than total, even in what later memory often recalled as the "good years" of the mid-1930s. One example of strong criticism leveled at Hitler can be seen in a report from the Gestapo in Berlin in March 1936. Hitler's toleration of the corruption and luxury life-style of the Party big-wigs at a time when poor living standards still afflicted most ordinary Germans was, the report noted, heavily criticized. "Why does the Führer put up with that?" was a question on many people's lips, noted the report, and it was evident "the trust of the people in the personality of the Führer is currently undergoing a crisis." Forgotten in Euphoria >>> By Ian Kershaw

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL:
Photo Gallery of the Third Reich

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL:
New Dictionary Highlights Nazi Words to Avoid

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

ALERT! The Organisation of the Islamic Conference to Move to Block Geert Wilders’ Anti-Islam Film
PRESS TV – IRAN: Islamic states' envoys to the Netherlands are planning to meet the country's officials to warn them against producing an anti-Islam film.

The ambassadors from Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member states have held a meeting to discuss ways to prevent the production of a controversial film by a far-right Dutch lawmaker that would be insulting to Islam, informed sources told Press TV.

Dutch MP Geert Wilders had earlier said that he planned to make the film to attack the Holy Qur'an.

The sources said the diplomats proposed that they hold a meeting with the Dutch Foreign Minister and other senior officials to warn them against the move and set up mechanisms to prevent insulting religious beliefs.

The controversial film is expected to spark worldwide protests similar to those staged after the publishing of a series of blasphemous cartoons by a Danish daily. [Source: OIC plans move against Dutch MP's film]

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Blair, the ‘Socialist’ Money Machine
Shameless, Brazen Blair >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

The Coarsening of Western Society!
Photo of a typical British, middle-class dining room of yesteryear courtesy of The Telegraph
The trend of doing away with the dining-room is to be lamented. It shows that British society is coarsening; it also shows that family life is becoming more and more casual – far too casual, in fact.

The dining-room was at one time an essential room in the house. No self-respecting housewife would have wanted to be without one. It really wouldn’t have been the ‘done thing’. These days, however, anything goes. Pop- and entertainment-culture has taken over. Mothers don’t wish to cook anymore; and their children don’t want to sit down to eat, let alone dine; rather, so many of our young prefer to eat ‘on the hoof’, watching the box, or listening to their favourite ‘cool’ music. Many, I’m sure, eat whilst they surf the Web.

To so many people these days, because they don’t think for themselves, following the likes of Posh and Becks or Jamie Oliver or Kathie Lette has become de rigueur, and far more important than convention.

Let Posh and Becks and their ilk do their thing. The experience of dining is something which really shouldn’t be lost to our children. Heaven knows our children have become coarse enough already!

If we apply the logic that it is wasteful of one’s money and resources to buy dining-room furniture or silverware, and too much trouble to use the dining-room, then we might as well use the same logic and throw out the dinner plates too. The family can eat out of the carton, standing in front of the refrigerator, using their fingers. How civilized and uplifting that will be! I dare say, many already do eat this way. Need we wonder why so many people have no manners anymore, let alone any dining etiquette?

Ultimately, if we want to be super-efficient, we can do as the Bedouins do: We can use one huge round plate, placed on the floor, sit cross-legged in a circle around it, and eat with our fingers – right hand, of course! (The left hand is used for unclean things.)

Perhaps this is all part and parcel of the next stage in the Islamization of our culture!

It is so sad that Britain, once a nation which led the world in matters of etiquette, is in the process of losing all that we have held so dear for so long. A few days ago, we got news that Gordon Brown was doing away with Britannia on the back of our 50p pieces; now we hear of the demise of our dining-rooms.

I promise you, one day, we shall come to rue the day that we dispensed with all that was considered refined. - ©Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: Britons can't be bothered with separate eating areas, says Alice Thomson. We want home cinemas instead

First it was fish knives and finger bowls, next went napkin rings and decanters, then mustard pots and marmalade spoons, now the British are throwing out the entire dining room. We have had enough of them.

They were usually dingy affairs anyway, the place where mothers laid out sewing patterns and fathers filled out tax returns, where children were told to keep their elbows off the table and great aunts served prune juice. With their swag curtains and brown furniture, they were a sign that you had finally made it to the middle classes.

In days gone by, they also facilitated the dating game, as Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, explains: "Dining rooms were vital in the 18th century. It was one of the few ways that a man could meet a single woman." Times have changed; the internet takes care of social introductions now.

No one shows off about their dining rooms anymore. Dining rooms were for hostess trolleys and hot plates, vol-au-vents and souffles. They required a huge amount of effort. If you have a dining room you can't serve the carrots out of the saucepan.

You have to put them in a serving dish. Even the ice-cream has to be decanted and, along with the rest of the food, either has to be trundled along a corridor or dispatched through a hatch in the wall.

The washing-up involved in having a dining room is horrendous. Most are also filled with silver which means several hours a week polishing the candelabra. And the cutlery. You must have serious cutlery, as well as a proper dinner service. Then there are curtains to think about and formal chairs. You have to dress the part too. Pyjamas look as out of place as a milk carton at a dining room table.

It's easy to see why the dining room has gone the way of trifles and Christmas pudding. It requires too much perspiration. Far easier to knock the kitchen and the dining room into one huge space and let the children use it as a football pitch and grazing ground.

Everyone has open kitchens now, from David Cameron to Posh and Becks and Jamie Oliver. Guests on Location, Location are more likely to ask for wet rooms than dining rooms. Kathy Lette, the comedienne, changed hers into a television room because she "loathes entertaining". Even the Queen prefers having her breakfast out of tupperware in an informal atmosphere. Dining rooms are not cut out for modern life >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Germany Still Wrestles with Adolf Hitler’s Legacy
THE TELEGRAPH: Germany is going through an unprecedented wave of self-recrimination as it marks the 75th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's rise to power.

Despite the rapidly decreasing number of people who were alive during the Nazi era, this week, Bernd Neumann, the German minister of culture, announced that building would start on two new memorials.

One will honour the gipsies deported to their deaths. The other, costing £400,000, will feature a video of gay men and lesbians kissing, in a commemoration of the thousands of homosexuals eliminated by a regime that considered them an aberration.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in central Berlin, consisting of 2,711 grey pillars, is in need of repair which will cost several hundred thousands pounds.

As Germany marks the anniversary today of Hitler and the Nazi party taking power in Germany, some have questioned whether so many memorials cloud personal remembrance. Germany still wrestles with Adolf Hitler's legacy >>> By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Hillary Wins Florida’s Democratic Primary by a Landslide
Photo of Hillary Clinton courtesy of The Times
TIMESONLINE: Hillary Clinton has won Florida's Democratic primary by a landslide, triggering an immediate war of spin with Barack Obama over the significance of her victory.

After a race where no campaigning took place and no delegates were on offer Mrs Clinton flew to Florida tonight to talk up her success.

The move was an attempt to snatch the media spotlight away from Mr Obama, and some momentum, after his prize endorsement from Senator Edward Kennedy in Washington on Monday.

With two fifths of precincts reporting, Mrs Clinton had won 51 per cent of the vote, Mr Obama 30 per cent and John Edwards 16 per cent. Hillary Clinton hails victory as Barack Obama cries spin >>> By Tim Reid in Miami and Tom Baldwin in Washington

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

’Anti-Mosque Initiatives Tap into a Fear of Islam’
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Across Europe, right-wing populist parties are gaining support by focusing on issues such as the construction of mosques. SPIEGEL ONLINE talks to right-wing populism expert Oliver Geden about the strategies used by the right and the pressure they put on the mainstream.

t seems like mosques have never been more controversial in Europe. A right-wing populist party has just announced an attempt to get the construction of mosques banned (more...) in an Austrian state. Meanwhile a right-wing group in Cologne is trying to stop a mosque from being built there (more...).

But why have right-wing populist parties suddenly seized on the issue of mosques? SPIEGEL ONLINE talked to Oliver Geden, an expert on right-wing populism at the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), about why mosques provide the perfect topic for right-wing parties and how they are forcing mainstream parties to shift to the right. 'Anti-Mosque Initiatives Tap into a Fear of Islam' >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Turkish MPs Plan Headscarf Reform
Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Two major parties in Turkey say they will submit a joint plan to parliament to ease a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities.

The Islamist-rooted governing AK Party and the nationalist MHP say it is an issue of human rights and freedoms.

The two parties have enough votes in parliament to overturn the constitutional ban on headscarves.

A strict headscarf ban has been in force in universities since 1997. It was ordered by the secularist military.

The issue is highly controversial in a mainly Muslim country whose secular elite - including the military - sees the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says.

The move to ease the ban has been criticised by judges and university officials.

MHP leader Devlet Bahceli said the joint plan would be submitted to parliament later on Tuesday. Turkish MPs plan headscarf reform >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)